The Pauley Principle: Blue Ridge Rendezvous

Welcome to The Pauley Principle!

The Pauli Principle, named for Wolfgang Pauli, deals with atoms and electron-sharing that results in new, stronger bonds. Think 2 parts hydrogen and 1 part oxygen, a shared delectable (!) electron and VOILA! Water!

Similarly, when you prepare whole food to share with family and friends, especially foods you've grown, something amazing happens. Meals become tastier and healthier. Your soul, not just your stomach, becomes fulfilled. You live life more abundantly as a result. During a shared meal, the bonds that people create grow stronger and become something new: GREATER than the sum of the parts! I give you The Pauley Principle.

Monday, October 17, 2011

Blue Ridge Rendezvous

The scenic background of the Blue Ridge Mountains on this clear day made this lookout point a lovely place for a picnic. I'm perched on an outcropping of rocks that had a high enough elevation that the air was thinning, feeling refreshingly cool and clean. Scraggly trees show evidence of rough winds and harsh weather but, on this particular day, the weather was perfect!

Chris is ready to share the "pic-a-nic basket" which he offered in his best Yogi Bear voice.

Chris and I had both been feeling the fatigue of the harvest. He had been processing poultry every chance he got while I had been processing vegetables. When we got the chance (our anniversary seemed a good excuse), we took off for the Blue Ridge Parkway to a northern section we had not yet seen. Trees were at their peak of beauty, weather stayed gorgeous, and we did a whirlwind two-day loop.

Near the end of our old Caddy's cruise on that segment of parkway, we headed up Narrow Passage Road off VA state route 43. That drive took us out to where some of the real people live. For all you bikers, I made a mental note that it looked like a great road trip for two wheels, offering plenty of twists, turns, and switchbacks through the mountains on surprisingly smooth pavement.

We followed that winding route for several miles to Shiloh Drive and the Blue Ridge Winery where homegrown grapes had been turned into wine which evidently flows freely at their frequent parties. We had the opportunity to join the vineyard staff at one of their parties and taste their wines.

The only bears I saw on this trip:

Not only did they offer tastes of their wine but they also had a band that played songs of the 80's. The band helped set the tone of their barn party and benches, tables, and occasional haybales allowed plenty of seating for the crowd to enjoy the sights, sounds and smells all around. Smoke drifted into the open barn from a nearby BBQ stand. The food on site came right out of that smoking trailer and tasted so good. Pulled pork sandwiches topped with a sweet BBQ sauce and cole slaw~YUM!!!

Eugene, the purveyor of Smokehouse BBQ, had quite an operation going with plenty of hardwood smoke and a hopping business that gave people huge servings of delicious pulled pork or chicken for a most reasonable price.

1 comment:

RUBY SLIPPERSOctober 18, 2011 at 5:22 AM
Love this page and these photos. Miss you and wish to see you sometime soon. Joyce
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Give Yourself the Fast Food Alternative: 1, 2, 3 makes 4 and More

For many people, late night ballgames, church, work and other events make fast food too convenient to resist, but what's in that stuff? I can't begin to answer. Big franchises such as Taco Bell say the 63% or so that isn't beef is made up of "the secret ingredient". If we consume their food, don't we have a right to know what that secret is? And more importantly, what's it doing to our bodies? My plan is worth the effort since meals eaten at home with the family benefit our physical and mental health.

Here's an alternative and my answer to Rachael Ray's A Week in a Day. I call it 1,2, 3 Makes 4 and More. On the fifth day, Friday, make a quick and easy pizza.
In one day, you can make a roast, a hearty soup, and a one-dish casserole to get you through most of the work week.
Meal 1: the roast with salad and a veggie.
Meal 2: the soup served with warm bread or in a bread bowl.
Meal 3: the casserole with a salad.
Meal 4: soup from Meal 2 served with sandwiches using the roast, Meal 1.
Meal 5: homemade pizza.

Plan meals and shop for it. Then take a few hours to prepare the entrees ahead. Start with a roast seasoned to taste. I'm talking real meat. While that's slow cooking, start chopping veggies and meat for a good, hearty soup, one that will be a meal in itself. Get it started and simmering away and then begin a one-pot meal that takes a little more attention.

This week my plan is Day 1, a slow roasted ham with salad and mashed potatoes; Day 2, minestrone; and Day 3, shepherd's pie. I'm making mashed potatoes for two days (meals 1 and 3) at one time on my cooking day. The fourth meal will be ham sandwiches with minestrone. Salads and breads round out the meals for the week. Fruits with cheese make a quick and good-for-you dessert. A truly delicious recipe for shepherd's pie is in my blog.

Be good to you. Be good to others. On days 6 and 7, change it up by going out, having a pot luck with friends and family or grilling out. Remember, live your life abundantly.

About Venison

Venison should taste really delicious! No kidding. It is my favorite meat, except for crab.

Some things to consider though:
*If you wouldn't think of eating a bull, then don't eat a deer that had huge antlers or was in rut. I don't. It affects the flavor and tenderness of the meat.
*Replace the deer fat with beef fat for your ground meat for an 80/20 ratio. Deer fat tends to be slightly bitter and leaves that thick coating in your mouth that, although edible, is not palatable.
*For roasts, sear with butter and olive oil. These impart a wonderful flavor.
*For sausage, use pork shoulder, at a ration of about 3 parts ground venison with 1 part ground pork shoulder.
*Venison by nature is a lean red meat. A good young deer processed properly will give you many delicious meals.
*Anything you would do with beef, except ribs, you can do with venison. Look for my recipe for Shepherd's Pie. Use either beef or venison. Enjoy, share, and live abundantly.

Plan Now for Maple Syrup

Maple syrup is cooked down from sap that you gather from sugar maple trees. There are no other ingredients, not even water. And it's incredibly good. On the market, maple syrups will often have corn syrup, gluten, color and other additives which can stretch profitability and decrease the steaming time required. Since it takes 35-45 gallons of the thin slightly sweet sap to make a gallon of pure maple syrup, doing it the old-fashioned way takes time but the result is pure YUM!

If you have the opportunity to tap into maple trees and decide you'd like to give this a try, plan ahead. If you steam off the sap inside your kitchen, it can strip your wall-paper! Been there, done that, at our old farmhouse. If you cook it down outside with a gas turkey fryer, the cost can end up being around $8 a pint. We began cooking over a wood fire a few years ago, using a tripod and kettle. Oh, and a large firewood supply. Whatever method you choose, proceed slowly and with caution.

Gather your supplies. We use food safe plastic jugs, buckets, and little water line spouts. Maple syrup production houses will collect into stainless steel vats using long water lines but we simply gather the jugs, pour into buckets and bring it to the kettle twice daily. I buy little pint jugs to store it in. Very fresh, very pure. Start tapping the trees when daytime temperatures are going to be above freezing but nights are still very cold. In Ohio, the sap will be running fast sometime in February.

Try my cousin Stephanie Krupla's recipe for Sticky Bun Tea Ring and you'll want to search for maple trees you can tap into yourself!